PLAGUE 



PLAINFIELD 



213 



to a very malignant kind of contagions fever pre- 

 vailing at certain times and places epidemically, 

 characterised by buboes, or swellings of the lym- 

 phatic glands, by carbuncles and petechite, and 

 apparently furnishing very imperfect security 

 against its recurrence in the same individual. 



The first extensive outbreak of this disease on 

 record took place in the 6th century A.D., and 

 devastated the whole Roman empire. It is sup- 

 posed to have started from Lower Egypt : but from 

 this time frequent epidemics occurred in Europe, 

 culminating in the Black Death (q.v.) in the 14th 

 century. It continued to ravage the north and 

 west of Europe up till the 17th century. The last 

 outbreak in England in 1663-65 caused the 'Great 

 Plague of London,' and spread almost all over the 

 country (see LONDON, Vol. VI. p. 699). Since the 

 end of the 17th century it has only twice visited 

 western Europe ; in 1707-14 it spread from Russia 

 and Hungary as far as Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, 

 and Bavaria; and in 1720-22, being introduced from 

 Syria into Marseilles, it destroyed almost half the 

 population there, and spread through Provence. 

 During all this time its most constant seats, so 

 far as is known, were the countries bordering the 

 Eastern Mediterranean Lower Egypt, Syria, Asia 

 Minor, and Turkey in Europe. But from all these it 

 has meantime disappeared. The last cases known in 

 Egypt occurred in 1844, and in the others in 1841. 

 It was hoped that the disease had become extinct, 

 but since then it has occurred more than once in 

 Arabia, Tripoli, Persia, and Mesopotamia, and in 

 1878 it spread to south-east Russia. It has been 

 present in India at least since 1815, sometimes in 

 epidemics (e.g. the 'Pali plague,' 1836-38), but 

 most constantly in districts on the southern slopes 

 of tlie Himalayas ; and it is said to be always found 

 in some parts of China. An outbreak at Hong- 

 kong in 1894 was followed by the fearful visitation 

 at Bombay (q.v.) and adjoining parts of India in 

 1896-98. 



It is the most destructive of all known epidemics. 

 Rarely less than 60, sometimes 90 per cent, of tliose 

 attacked die. ' It often carries oil' half the popula- 

 tion of a town or of a district in which it prevails, 

 and it may completely root out whole families, so 

 that no survivor remains.' The Black Death of 

 1348-50 is believed to have destroyed not less than 

 a quarter of the population of Europe. 



The general symptoms resemble those of other 

 severe fevers: shivering, rise of temperature, aching 

 in head, back, and limbs, sickness, &c. Great 

 weakness succeeds, with mental disturbance lead- 

 ing to coma or delirium. Death often occurs before 

 any characteristic symptoms are developed ; but at 

 an early stage dark spots or patches often appear 

 on the skin, produced by subcutaneous ha>mor- 

 rhages (petechue, ecchymoses ), and bleeding may 

 al.to take place from the various mucous mem- 

 branes. Bleeding from the lungs, though rare in 

 recent epidemics, was regarded as a characteristic 

 symptom of the Black Death in its most virulent 

 fi>rm. Alx>ut the second or third day the most dis- 

 tinctive features of the disease are developed viz. 

 one or more buboes or glandular swellings, usually 

 in the neck, armpits, or groins : these generally 

 break and lead to prolonged suppuration. In a 

 few cases they are absent altogether. Carbuncles 

 not frequently develop at a later stage of the 

 diwow. <;<xid nursing, good nourishment, free 

 stimulation, and early opening of the bulioes are 

 lidpfnl. Yersin's inoculation with prepared serum 

 proved useful in the Bombay epidemic of 1896-98. 

 There can be no doubt that it is a highly infectious 

 disease, and that the infection may be conveyed 

 by clothes, bedding, &c., as well as by direct con- 

 tact with the sick. In all epidemics it has been 

 that the unhealthy condition* produced 



by poverty and filth are extremely favourable to 

 the disease, and that it has been much less 

 prevalent and severe among those in comfortable 

 circumstances and healthy surroundings. 



See Keeker's Epidemics of the Middle Ages (published 

 by the Sydenhara Society, 1844); Hirsch's Geographical 

 and Historical Pathology ( vol. i. , New Sydenliam Society, 

 1883 ) ; and the articles BLACK DEATH, EPIDEMIC. 



Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), a common flat- 

 fish in the same genus as the flounder. It usually 

 inhabits sandy and muddy banks off the European 

 coasts from France to Iceland. Like the flounder, 

 it may pass from estuaries into rivers, and can even 

 thrive in fresh-water ponds. It often lies slightly 

 covered with sand, but with the eyes exposed and 

 watchful for prey. The food consists of molluscs, 

 crustaceans, ancf worms, but especially of the first. 

 It spawns in early spring, and is in best condition 

 about the end of May. It was once a common 

 belief that shrimps were the parents of plaice I 

 The plaice is taken both by lines and trawl-nets, 

 is in considerable esteem for the table, and is 

 plentiful in the British markets. Those from sandy 

 ground are said to be much more palatable than 

 those from the mud. Compared with the flounder, 

 the plaice is rather broader in proportion to its 

 length. The general size weighs about 2 to 3 

 pounds, but much larger specimens are often 

 caught ; the coloured side is predominantly olive- 

 brown with orange spots, hut the colour changes 

 rapidly in precise harmony with that of the ground 

 on which the fish vests ; six blunt tubercles ex- 

 tend from the eye to the beginning of the lateral 

 line, which has an almost straight course. 



Plaid. See HIGHLANDS. 



IN.'lill. a geographical term which hardly admits 

 of precise definition. It is generally applied to 

 extensive tracts of approximately level or undulat- 

 ing country, which occur at less than 1000 feet 

 above the sea. Broad areas of similar character at 

 higher elevations are usually termed Tablelands 

 (q.v.) or Plateaus. This is the general rule, but 

 when the surface of a plain slopes gradually up- 

 wards to heights of several thousand feet, the 

 whole tract is still called a plain. As an example 

 may be cited the great plains east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, which fall imperceptibly away towards 

 the east from an elevation of 6000 feet or so. 

 Among the most characteristic plains are the wide 

 alluvial lands of the greater rivers. But the term 

 is extended to such low-lying regions as central 

 Ireland, the Midlands of England, middle Europe, 

 &c. regions which have no great elevation and 

 present a gently undulating surface, interrupted 

 now and again by isolated hills, and lines of cliffs 

 and escarpments. From the same point of view 

 the whole interior of North America lying between 

 the Rocky Mountains in the west and the Alle- 

 ghany and White Mountains in the east, and ex- 

 tending from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of 

 the Arctic Ocean, may be called a plain. So likewise 

 more than half of Europe is a plain that is con- 

 tinued into Asia and extends northward over vast 

 regions of that continent. Plains necessarily differ 

 much in appearance according to the nature of soil 

 and climate, from the dreary, sandy wastes of 

 north Africa to the luxuriant fertility of the South 

 American silvas. Wide regions of comparatively 

 level ground in each of the great continents have 

 acquired various names, such as the Steppes and 

 Tundras of eastern Europe and Asia, the Deserts 

 of Arabia and Africa, the Savannahs and Prairies 

 of North America, and the Llanos, Pampas, and 

 Silvas of South America. See DESERT. 



I'l.'iilllicld. a city of New Jersey, on Green 

 Brook, 24 miles by rail WSW. of New York, many 

 of whose business men have their homes here. 



